Shrinkage and Its Effects

07/05/13 14:43

I’ve been working on printing some new designs. I have about a dozen submissions but typically I have a difficult time getting them to print correctly. Unfortunately, ABS shrinks so much as it cools that anytime you try to print something long, it invariably shrinks halfway through the process and pops off of the base, then you end up printing a giant batch of spaghetti. It’s a waste of time and a pain in the neck. The trick to these items is to try to print them as vertically as possible, but that only leaves roughly 6 inches of length to work with. I’m not sure if a temperature-controlled box would do the trick. I hear that there is a patent that blocks most 3D printer manufacturers from including this in their designs, which is too bad. It seems necessary when printing in ABS. Anyone have any thoughts?